A note = nya Several of the example sentences above contain the enclitic =nya, invariably

A note = nya Several of the example sentences above contain the enclitic =nya, invariably

glossed as ‘3s’. In modern Indonesian it has a broad range of functions, which cannot be comprehensively discussed in this short paper.

Being an enclitic, =nya cannot be the head of a noun phrase and is subject to various other restrictions. It cannot be used for instance as a subject, nor can it occur after the basic preposition di ‘in’ and ke ‘at’ or after cardinal numerals, but it seems that in all other syntactic positions where a noun phrase is allowed =nya may replace it.

The examples with suami=nya ‘her husband’ and isteri=nya ‘his wife’ show that features related to biological gender are not part of its meaning. The following sentence illustrates that =nya is used with reference to human beings, but also to lifeless objects.

(41) (I took a cigarette …)

dan menyala=nya sedang mata saya terus terarah pada=nya . and light=3s while eye 1s continuous directed at=3s ‘… and lighted it while my eyes were all the time directed at him.’

(Tolstoy 1979: 109). The fact that =nya can replace the second NP in the possessive construction

[NP 1 + NP 2 ] ‘NP 2 ’s NP 1 ’, combined with the fact that it may refer to any third person entity, entails that NP=nya may be interpreted as ‘the NP of it’, ‘it’ being the situation at hand. In other words, it very much functions like the definite article in western European languages. (42) and (43) are illustrations.

(42) Dari kemarén awan=nya rendah banget. from yesterday cloud=3s low very ‘Since yesterday the clouds are very low.’

(43) (Being under a banyan-tree gave me the shivers, but because there were many children there who even …)

bergelantungan di akar-akar beringin=nya, aku cuék aja.

be hanging about in RDP-root banyan tree=3s 1s indifferent just

‘were hanging about at the roots of the banyan tree in question, I didn’t care.’

This meaning ‘belonging to the situation at hand’ has extended to proper and geographical names.

Wacana, Vol. 12 No. 2 (October 2010)

(44a) (In the scene following (38), Papi opens the door and a rather rowdy young man introduces himself as Olga’s future husband, addressing Papi with the Jakarta Indonesian babé and bé ‘father’) Olga=nya ada, Bé?

O.=3s be there father ‘Is Olga (the one we are talking about) there, father?’

(Hilman 1990: 94).

(44b) (Reaction of a woman on the Internet to pictures of a family on a day out at a ranch near Bandung) Wah asyik ya Mbak liburan= nya. Bandung=nya di mana Mbak?

wow pleasant yes Miss holiday=3s Bandung=3s in where Miss ‘Wow, that was pleasant wasn’t it Miss, the holiday (you were

having). In Bandung where about was it, Miss?’ (I used to live there you know).

It also extended to independent personal pronouns. This latter usage is rather typical of blogger language, which is heavily influenced by Jakarta Indonesian and Javanese. The following is an example.

(45) Rencana=nya kami … mau luncur ke timur... tapi untuk saya=nya plan=3s 1pe

want slip to east but for 1s=3s péngin=nya ke Bandung. wish=3s to Bandung ‘Our plan was … to rush off to the east … but for me (in that situation)

my wish (the wish in question) was to go to Bandung.’ The construction rencana=nya kami in this sentence would be rencana kami

in Standard Indonesian. The construction follows the regular Javanese possessive pattern of [NPpossession + 3s possessive enclitic + NPpossessor]. In Standard Indonesian this construction is accepted only in as far as it has a disambiguating function, as in (46)a and b, and (47)a and b.

(46a) Ibu Berlusconi

‘Mrs Berlusconi’

(46b) ibu=nya Berlusconi

‘Mrs Berlusconi’s mother’

(47a) dihantam Suharto ‘hit was Suharto’, 2) ‘be hit by Suharto’ panas badan=ku hot body=1s ‘hot was my body’, 2) ‘my body heat, my fever’

319 tidur saya

HEIN STEINHAUER, Gender and the Indonesian pronouns

sleep 1s

1) ‘asleep I was’, 2) ‘my sleeping’ (47b) dihantam=nya Suharto

‘the fact that Suharto was hit’ (literally, the being hit of Suharto) panas=nya badan=ku ‘the fact that my body was hot’ (literally, the being hot of my body) tidur=nya saya ‘the fact that I was asleep’ (literally, the sleeping of mine)

24 In the latter three constructions =nya has a nominalizing function, and it may

be questioned whether this =nya still is a pronoun and an enclitic.

A final instance of the pronominal origin of =nya is its echo function. A noun phrase which is fronted as a topic or as the antecedent of a relative clause, and which can be seen as extracted from the following clause, requires the presence of =nya in the position from where the noun phrase was extracted, except when in that position it functioned as the subject. (48) is an example of =nya echoing a non-subject antecedent, whereas (49) and presumably also (50) are cases of topicalization.

(48) Ia lagi kéki sama mami=nya yang hobi=nya 3s SUBJ POGR irritated with mum=3s REL hobby=3s ngelarang melulu. ACT forbid merely ‘She was in an resentful mood towards her mum whose hobby it was

to do nothing but imposing bans.’ (Hilman 1990: 91). (49) (After the scene of (44)a Olga’s would-be husband presses her father

to disclose her whereabouts) Maap, Bé, tapi Olga pergi=nya ke mana? sorry father but Olga go=3s to where ‘Sorry father, but Olga, where did she go?’ (literally: Olga, her going)

(Hilman 1990: 94). (50) Sewaktu kuliah … seni, aku ambil=nya mata kuliah fotografi.

one time lecture art 1s take=3s school-subject photography ‘At the … art course, what I took was photography.’ (literally: me

the taking in question …)

24 This construction with the proper intonation may also be read as a sentence: ‘hit by him/her was Suharto’. Compare the first readings of the constructions in (47a).

Wacana, Vol. 12 No. 2 (October 2010)

Examples like the latter sentence (with a transitive verb root + =nya) are common in Jakarta-based varieties of spoken Indonesian and they are rather abundant on the Internet, maybe even typical of that medium.